The Heat Memory of a Planet Orbiting a Dead Star ✦

Original: "Aerosols and hydrocarbons in the atmosphere of a white dwarf planet"

· Ryan J. MacDonald, Christopher E. O'Connor, Victoria A. Boehm, E. M. May, David K. Sing, Elijah Mullens, L. C. Mayorga, Trevor O. Foote, Simon Blouin, Logan A. Pearce, Nikole K. Lewis, Jeff Valenti, Natasha E. Batalha, Maura Lally, Joshua D. Lothringer, Mark S. Marley, Ishan Mishra, Susan E. Mullally

arXiv:2607.01316 · 2026-07-01 · CC BY 4.0 · 1 min · Exoplanets Stellar

JWST read the thermal memory of a planet around a dead star: excess heat and methane betray a violent migration billions of years after the star's death.

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A planet around a dead star stored heat for billions of years. JWST caught its infrared glow — like a stone that remembers the midday heat. The atmosphere revealed methane and traces of an ancient tidal catastrophe. Such worlds hold the key to the future of our Jupiter when the Sun becomes a white dwarf.

🎯 WD 1856 b is seven times larger than its white dwarf — if it took Earth's place, it would cover nearly the entire sky. Yet during transit we see only a fleeting touch due to the orbit's inclination.

\sigma T_{\rm eff}^4 = \int F_{\lambda} \, d\lambda

The effective temperature is determined by the balance of radiated power per unit surface area

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The Heat Memory of a Planet Orbiting a Dead Star ✦